Morgan Stanley says this is why Tesla is building a commercial truck

Gaining a foothold into battery leasing might be why Tesla Inc. wants to make a commercial truck, analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note Thursday.

Tesla
TSLA, -0.23%
could be planning to sell its trucks without a battery and offer battery swapping to trucking companies as a service, the analysts said. That would bring revenue as well as data to the Silicon Valley car maker, they said.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk last week announced on Twitter the company would unveil a commercial truck in September, just months ahead of the launch of the Model 3, the all-electric sedan Tesla plans to sell to the masses.

Moreover, “entering the trucking industry may not be particularly challenging,” the analysts said. Much of battery and autonomous-driving technology needed for the truck could be shared with the passenger-car division, the analysts said.

Come September, Tesla could surprise investors with revealing large carrier and shipper partners during its truck reveal in September, they said.

Morgan Stanley analysts are among the most optimistic about Tesla on Wall Street, holding the stock at a buy rating with a price target of $305, a few dollars below the current stock price.

According to FactSet, analysts on average hold the shares at a hold rating with an average price target of $256, which represents a downside around 20% from Thursday’s prices.

Tesla is scheduled to report first-quarter results on May 3 after the market closes. The analysts surveyed by FactSet expect the company to report an adjusted loss 71 cents a share on sales of $2.6 billion.

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